I'm Getting the Hang of This.

Okay, so I told you in my last post that I've been following some money saving blogs to learn the tricks of the trade. Tonight, I decided to test out my skills at Target, with Bonnie by my side for moral support. I haven't discovered the most efficient way to organize my coupons yet, so for now, I have categorized envelopes (e.g. health/beauty, fruits/veggies, cleaning, toiletries, etc., you get the picture) and I write the coupons on the outside of the envelope so I can see what I'm working with. I have read and heard over and over again that the best time to use a coupon is when an item is on sale. I saw on Totally Target that a lot readers were reporting marked down items in the cosmetics department of Target. I had some make-up coupons that expired at the end of the month and decided this would be a good time to use them. I found some Covergirl nail polish that was originally $3.69, on clearance for $0.92. My coupon was $1.00 off any Covergirl product. Side note: I have also learned that if the coupon value is higher than the cost of the item, you can ask the cashier to reduce the value of the coupon to make the item free. JACKPOT! There weren't any more items on clearance that I had a coupon for, so I made my way over to the health/beauty section to see what I could find. I looked at my health/beauty envelope and noticed that I had a coupon for $1.00 off Oral-B floss. I skimmed through the floss selection and found some for $1.02. Oh man, this is getting good! I had one more coupon up my sleeve, and this one was for Bonnie. I noticed that she had conditioner written on her grocery list and I just so happened to have a buy one get one free (B1G1) Herbal Essences coupon. She decided to buy her Herbal Essences conditioner and get some spray gel for FREE!

We walked over to the checkout for the moment of truth. The cashier scanned our items and then all three coupons. All of my coupons prompted a warning on the screen that they were invalid. I made sure beforehand that the coupons would work with the items I was purchasing, so I knew they weren't invalid. Our cashier, Katherine, called for back up. While we were waiting around awkwardly, I asked her if the patient man behind us with two items could go ahead of us. She cancelled our transaction and rang him up. Now it was our turn again. Katherine's back up, Shana, instructed her to mark down the value of the Covergirl coupon to $0.92 and to override the warnings for the other products. Apparently, the registers at Target are not fans of coupons. After waiting in anticipation for a couple of minutes, Katherine handed me my receipt. I was shocked when I saw my savings! After everything was said and done, I saved $6.83 plus the $2.77 markdown on the nail polish for a grand total of $9.60 or 75%. I walked out of Target feeling like I was on top of the world! I could really get used to this using coupons thing.

Bonnie needed to get the majority of her groceries at Kroger, so we headed that way. Another thing I've learned about over the past couple of weeks is Cellfire, a website where you can load electronic coupons on to your Kroger or Tom Thumb rewards card. It's pretty sweet. I've seen ads for the Nature Valley Granola Nut Clusters and when I saw the $1 off coupon for them on Cellfire, I immediately added it to my Kroger card. When we got to Kroger, I saw them on sale for $2.29, originally priced at $3.79, and tossed them in the cart. Kroger had a great deal on Charmin toilet paper, 12 rolls for $5.99, originally priced at $9.79 and I also had a $0.25 coupon. Another great thing about Kroger is that they triple coupons with a face value of $0.35 or less and double coupons with a face value of $0.50 or less. Since Kroger triples coupons, my $0.25 coupon quickly turned into a $0.75 coupon. I also bought some extra virgin olive oil (EVOO for the Rachael Ray fans) that was marked down $0.80 and there were also manufacturer coupons for $1.00 off hanging off the shelf.

My total savings at Kroger, including sale prices and coupons, was $8.85.

I'm pretty proud of myself. I've given myself a pat on the back and listened closely to hear my dad's voice in my head saying, "Good job, Britt!" It's too late to call him right now, but had I called him, I know that's what he would say.

Total savings for the night? $18.45.

That's all I've got for now. I'm sure I'll be dreaming of all kinds of saving scenarios tonight.